How do you add affordable houses in Vancouver? Build them in the middle of the street

Vancouver’s city council recently endorsed a controversial “final report” prepared for the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability, aimed at helping “Vancouver become a more sustainable, diverse and affordable city,”

VANCOUVER — This is a city of braggadocio, in love with itself and its world-beater titles. A perennial topper on “Most Livable Cities” lists, Vancouver is now the “Most Reputable” place to live, whatever that means. But there’s an obvious downside. Vancouver occupies a relatively small area — just 114 square kilometres — and everyone wants a piece.

What’s the city to do? Cram even more people in. Shoehorn the middle class into tighter spaces. Tear up city streets and alleyways and build homes there. And force developers — somehow — to sell new homes for prices far below market value.

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That’s the official response from planners and politicians at City Hall, where a housing densification strategy is ramping up and raising concerns. Critics say proposed initiatives are too radical and are moving forward too quickly.

Vancouver’s city council recently endorsed a controversial “final report” prepared for the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability, aimed at helping “Vancouver become a more sustainable, diverse and affordable city,” with a “focus on affordability solutions for those household’s with moderate incomes” between $21,500 to $86,500.

rethinkhousing.ca

Among the report’s recommended “priority actions for immediate implementation” is a so-called Thin Streets concept, conceived by a pair of former Vancouver planners and entered into a city-sponsored competition to make creative use of public lands. The idea is to extend residential blocks into city streets, “turning asphalt into affordable housing.”

A normal street allowance in Vancouver is 66 feet; the Thin Streets initiative would narrow certain north-south streets to 33 feet, and convert the reclaimed space into residential lots.

“The City already owns the street so there is no purchase price for the [new lots],” the winning Thin Streets entry reads. The new lots could be leased to a developer or an individual home builder, with the land lease revenue then used to create endowment funds for other affordable housing projects.

“I think it’s very practical,” says retired city planner Ted Sebastian, who came up with the idea decades ago, with then-colleague Christine DeMarco. “There are streets [on Vancouver’s west side] where you rarely ever see a car. So disruption would be minimal.”

Mayor Gregor Robertson, a green-oriented bicycle enthusiast and no fan of the automobile, called the idea “a clear winner.” One-third of Vancouver’s land mass is occupied by street infrastructure, he noted.

That’s a lot of pavement. But some homeowners were quick to warn they won’t stand for any street thinning. The mayor ultimately acknowledged that the Thin Streets initiative “needs to slow down.” Yet city planners are now talking about converting the Thin Streets concept into so-called Thin Lanes, and introducing the notion of alleyway housing for Vancouver’s crowded West End, already one of the most densely-populated neighbourhoods in North America.

According to Kevin McNaney, the city’s assistant director of planning, the neighbourhood’s many alleyways are unusually wide; they could be narrowed, with the reclaimed space used to build “much needed” family housing behind existing apartment and condominium towers.

rethinkhousing.ca

Thin Streets and Thin Lanes aren’t the only proposals raising hackles. Criticism has been levelled at other housing options and initiatives presented in the Mayor’s Task Force report, including the recommendation that consideration be given only to new housing projects “where units are sold for at least 20% below market value.” How to achieve this? Details remain sketchy.

Plans to permit up to 20 high-density residential projects — set back from major arterial routes, and into single family areas — have also caused friction. The Vancouver Sun reported that “26 neighbourhood associations, residents’ groups and committees” had expressed their opposition to the city’s new densification report, even “before council approved it.”

“Why do we have to be dense?” asked the president of one local community association. “It ruins the character of the city and density costs money. The more people you have, the more footprints you’ve got and the more services you need and that’s not exactly the way it’s supposed to be.”

Densification does have its advocates, including Mr. Robertson’s immediate predecessor, Sam Sullivan. While in office, he introduced to Vancouver his “EcoDensity” concept, which stressed purported environmental benefits of squeezing more people into smaller spaces. Mr. Robertson ditched the fancy moniker and has focused on densification’s economic advantages.

Keep in mind, the average price for a Vancouver bungalow is now $846,800, according to RBC’s latest Housing Affordability report. Increasingly, only the wealthy — and the very poor, thanks to new social housing — can afford to live here. Vancouver is the world’s second least affordable housing market, after Hong Kong, according to one international survey released early this year.

“Affordability, or lack of it, affects everyone,” says Mr. Sebastian. “If people are spending most of their incomes on housing, they have less to spend on other things in their communities. For any city to function beautifully, it needs diversity.”

Ironically, one of the few practical ideas mentioned in the city’s affordable housing report was overlooked by most local analysts and critics. Introduced to Canada two decades ago, cohousing combines privately owned, fully equipped homes with common areas and shared amenities and equipment, such as kitchens, workshops, cars, office space and gardens.

Such arrangements allow owners to share maintenance and other costs, while offering them extra living features and breathing room, which they might not otherwise be able to afford or even find. It’s like condo-living, with an emphasis on co-operation.

It might suit sociable seniors who want to share resources, and for community-minded families with children. But cohousing isn’t for everyone, says Vesanto Melina, a local advocate. She and her partner bought into an artsy enclave called Windsong two decades ago; it was B.C.’s first cohousing arrangement. More cohousing projects have recently appeared on Vancouver Island, and in Calgary.

There aren’t any in Vancouver, yet. High land prices are the main obstacle. Assembling adjoining lots is difficult and expensive. But Ms. Melina has joined forces with like-minded folks — a “community of citizen-developers”— to acquire land on the city’s south side. They’re now waiting for rezoning approval and permits before they start building their custom-designed community, which is to house 16 people.

According to a group statement, “cohousing residents can save between $2,100 and $24,000 a year by sharing meals, household goods and other expenses.” If this cohousing project works, expect to see more. Vancouverites might even earn a new title: World’s Most Willing to Try Anything.

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